Seaman fought and fought Thursday night to overcome a 13-point deficit against No. 3 seed Great Bend in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament.

And the Vikings clawed their way all the way back to take a 29-28 lead at the 4:14 mark of the third quarter on a hoop by junior Tatyana Legette.

Unfortunately for Seaman that lead only lasted 40 seconds, with Great Bend answering with an 8-0 run and then pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 60-46 win at Landon Arena.

The Panthers, who improved to 21-2, advanced to a 6:30 p.m. semifinal Friday to face Salina Central, a 63-31 winner over St. James Academy.

Seaman, which trailed 16-8 at the end of the first quarter and 25-18 at the half, used a 6-0 run to take its only lead of the night, but Great Bend answered with a three-point play from Regan Unruh, a 3-pointer from Kaylie Doll and a hoop from Doll and the Vikings were back in chasing mode for the rest of the game.

“They answered,” said Seaman coach Steve Alexander, whose team finished the season 19-4. “Give them credit, they played really well.

“They took the game. I didn't think we did anything to lose the game. They took the game because they played better than us and because they hit more shots. But we had some chances. It's not like they took us out of everything we wanted to do.”

Great Bend coach Carrie Minton wasn't surprised at her team's answer when Seaman made its run.

“That's a credit to what got us here,” Minton said. “We have a large group of seniors, and they play very mature and they were very composed.”

Great Bend opened up a 25-12 lead at the 2:43 mark of the second quarter but Seaman scored the final six points of the half. Senior reserve Dani Spence hit three of four free throws before junior point guard Brooke McMillin ended the first-half scoring with a 3-pointer.

Seaman was still within five points (36-31) at the start of the fourth quarter but Great Bend built its lead to 17 points late.

Senior Morgan Harwood had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Great Bend, while Unruh and Doll both added 13 points.

LEAVENWORTH 71, EISENHOWER 37 — Top seed Leavenworth (22-1) rolled to Friday’s 3 p.m. semifinal game, leading by as much as 40 in the fourth quarter.

The Pioneers forced 33 turnovers by Eisenhower (16-7) and pestered the Tigers into 29 percent shooting from the field. The Tigers had no player with more than eight points.

Leavenworth had seven players with at least six points, led by junior LaToshia Jones who had 14 points off the bench. Rachel Blackburn, a 6-foot-3 junior, added 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the field.

Aquinas (20-3) had taken its only lead of the game on a hoop by senior Tia Weledji with 8.2 seconds left. But after timeouts by both teams, Kapaun went the length of the floor for Jacobs’ bucket, her only points of the game.

Kapaun, which won the 5A title in 2012, got 13 points and 11 rebounds from 6-foot-1 senior Sydney Kuhn, while junior Sam Bachrodt added 11 points. Weledji led Aquinas with 13 points.

SALINA CENTRAL 63, ST. JAMES ACADEMY 31 — No. 2 seed Salina Central had no trouble in its first-round matchup, improving to 22-1 on the year as Kansas State recruit Shaelyn Martin (6-1 senior) scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and passed out five assists.

Salina Central led 31-19 at the half and then outscored St. James 32-12 in the second half to turn the game into a rout.

Senior Emily Wood added 13 points for the Mustangs (three 3-pointers) while senior Hailey Mayfield had 11 points. Senior Julianne Smith led St. James (17-6) with 13 points, but no other Thunder player scored more than five points.